TODAY IN MISSION YEARBOOK
Mission Yearbook: The Offer’ spurs a conversation on innovation
Jack Hess, the president and co-founder of CivicLab, recently shared the remarkable story of one man’s architectural vision and the effect it has had on the landscape and civic life of Columbus, Indiana.
Hess presented one of the plenary session addresses at the inaugural Luminosity Conference, sponsored by the Presbyterian Foundation in Orlando, Florida. The conference was designed to offer pastors and other church leaders’ inspiration and thoughts on innovation.
CivicLab teaches collaborative community teams how to approach complex social problems by redesigning the way they work together. Since 2012, the organization has served more than 300 communities across the country and trained more than 14,000 leaders and community stakeholders.
In the mid-20th century, Columbus was a typical small Midwestern city, Hess said, with a looming problem: the Baby Boom. In 1950, Life Magazine had featured the city in an issue about such cities; the writer said the one word that best described Columbus was “average.”
“We were average at best,” Hess said with a grin. “Our city was very similar to many cities in the Midwest. And we had not built a new school in 22 years.” The first babies born after World War II were about to reach school age. “This was the greatest sea change this community would face. How we responded would say a lot about what our future would be.”
Enter J. Irwin Miller, the scion of the Cummins industrial family business. Miller held a degree from Yale, but not in business or economics. He studied Greek and Latin and then completed a master’s degree at Oxford University. A Renaissance man of sorts, he was a Bible scholar who served as the first lay president of the National Council of Churches. It was this background that became the foundation for renewal in his hometown.
After two new, identical, prefabricated schools began experiencing significant maintenance issues, Miller made the first proposal in what would become known as “The Offer.” If school officials would agree to solicit proposals from five well-known architects and choose one of them as the design for a new school, Cummins would pay for architectural design fees. Starting with school design was an intentional decision to focus on the constituency that was never at the table but most directly represents the future – children.
“Miller had a two-fold problem,” Hess explained. “He needed talented engineers, executives and other employees for his growing company, but he knew they would not move to where the schools were not good. He understood that family and education would be crucial to the Baby Boomers. He was also inspired by a statement from Winston Churchill: ‘We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us.”
The Offer has dramatically shaped Columbus in the decades since. More than 70 buildings have been designed by such architects as I. M. Pei, Eero Saarinen, Eliel Saarinen, Harry Weese and Kevin Roche. The program expanded beyond schools to other civic buildings, including the county jail. “We call that the jail test,” Hess said. “In Columbus, we believe in excellence for all. Our jail is a reflection of a commitment to restorative justice.”
While not eligible for The Offer, leaders of banks, manufacturing facilities and colleges joined in the enthusiasm, choosing to follow the model of excellence in design and construction. Churches joined in the spirit of The Offer as well, also hiring renowned architects of the time, working to support the collective vision of the community and showing how churches can join efforts of civic inspiration.
“So how did Miller’s offer work out?” asked Hess. “I would say The Offer did indeed pay off in profound ways for Columbus.” The city was recently ranked first in the nation for the growth in the percentage of college graduates, according to economist Richard Florida, and recorded a 62% increase in its diversity index, the highest in the nation, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The Offer, Hess said, validated what Miller asserted: “Every time any public building is built, that building is a statement to anyone who used it, anyone who passes by, as to what this city thinks about itself, what standards it sets for itself, what it aims to be.”
Chuck Toney for the Presbyterian Foundation (Click here to read original PNS Story)
Let us join in prayer for:
David English, AVP Financial & Investment Planning Professional, Trust Services, The Presbyterian Foundation
Michael Fallon, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Finance, The Board of Pensions
Let us pray:
Gracious God, we thank you for the opportunity to share your love in real and tangible ways with our brothers and sisters. Amen.